My secret on staying motivated?

It’s Sunday. Believe it or not, I don’t always want to be up at 7am. But usually I am. And if I were to put my secret in 4 simple words, it would simply be ’give yourself some slack’. Of course, I’m not leaving it at that. I will expand on this point by separating it into 3 major parts – cheat days, little pleasures and never giving up.

Cheat Days

There are two schools of thought regarding cheat days. Basically, a cheat day allows you to each muffins on Saturday if you have been consistent with your diet. For example, the jack of all trades, Tim Ferriss agrees that cheat days can be beneficial.

You should choose what will help you reach your end goal. But for me, cheat days are a waste. It’s not exact science but a cheat day sets me back 3-4 days. Next time you are going to the mall, try going 7 steps forward and 3 back. I don’t need to tell you that it would be a long trip.

Little pleasures

Instead of cheat days, I rely on small rewards. It’s different because rather than directly contradicting to what I am trying to achieve, my rewards give me pleasure without making it worse.

It’s easier to explain using examples.

Let’s say for the next three months I will be training for a marathon. A cheat day would be eating pizza after a full week of workouts and diets. A guilty pleasure would be buying myself something nice, spend a night with my friends (not staying too late, though) or grabbing a free signup bonus and playing a bit of casino games.

It’s not something I should be doing, but at least these rewards don’t damage my preparation for the marathon and keep my motivation high.

Never giving up

If you believe you have lost, you have.

I should’ve been outside an hour ago but I am writing a blog post because it just came to me. If I believed I have failed, even for a second, my motivation would drop and my chances of finishing the marathon would plunder. Instead, I acknowledge the fact and vow to continue either later that day or the next day.

In fact, why don’t I just finish this up and get my running shoes. It’s a beautiful chilly Sunday morning outside.